


A New Hero

by Arlux1313



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arlux1313/pseuds/Arlux1313
Summary: Yuki Hyoudou and his twin sister Yumei are aspiring duelists who have some serious anime protagonist luck, and have dreams of being the next King/Queen of Games. But if they want to achieve that dream, they'll have to not just make it into Duel Academy, but get past all the crazy goings on at said academy.Some cards will be carrying their anime effects, and others are from the recesses of my own mind.Major changes to the Duel Monsters and GX canon inbound, you have been warned. Also spelling errors galore, so please forgive me.
Relationships: alexis rhodes/oc
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

“Alright, my turn.” Yuki chanced a glance around the stadium. Yuki Hyoudou was a young man of average height, his dark hair was a little wild, and looked to have teal highlights that matched his teal colored eyes. Yuki wore a dark blue shirt with a dark coat over that, which looked to be some sort of school uniform. He also had dark pants and shoes on, possibly also a part of the uniform. He was currently one of the last people to take his practical exam to enroll in Duel Academy, and a lot of eyes were on him. The 16 year old did not particularly like crowds, and this was a rather large crowd due to how many applicants had already completed their practical duel.

To make matters worse for Yuki, his exam proctor had a Buster Blader on his side of the field. Which was the absolute worst card Yuki could be facing with the deck he was currently dueling with. Even worse for him, he had no monsters on his own field. Meaning that if he didn’t summon a monster now, with only 2000 LP left, Yuki would lose the duel, and be unable to get into Duel Academy. He needed a comeback and he needed to make it now.

“Draw!” Yuki’s eyes went wide, and a smile formed on his face. “I play the card I just drew: Pot of Greed! Now I can draw two more cards!” Yuki’s smile grew, when he saw the two monsters he needed. The exact monsters that could help him win this duel. “Okay, I’ll summon this, my Drago Warrior in attack mode!”

Yuki’s summoned monster Drago Warrior resembled a bipedal dragon clad in armor, with a sword in one hand, and a shield in the other. The monster had 1600 attack and 1400 defense. “And that ends my turn.”

The proctor opposite Yuki shook his head in dismissal. “Shameful, your monster is a dragon-type monster. Which means my Buster Blader gains an additional 500 attack, bringing his total up to 3100! And it’s my turn, so Buster Blader attacks now!”

“Oh no he doesn’t!” Yuki placed the second monster he had drawn due to Pot of Greed onto his duel disk, summoning it in defense mode. “On the turn Drago Warrior is attacked, if I have a Drago defender in my hand, I can special summon him to the field!”

Drago Defender looked similar to Drago Warrior in that it was a bipedal dragon in armor, only its shield was far larger. The monster had 1000 attack, and 2000 defense. “At the cost of half of its defense points, I can automatically end the battle phase!”

Yuki’s exam proctor smiled. “Well played applicant, now what will you do that it’s your turn?”

“You’re about to find out! Draw!” Yuki took the next card off the top of his deck, and his eyes went wide. He’d drawn Pollymarization. Just the card he needed. “I’ll play the spell card Pollymarization! Fusing my Drago Warrior and my Drago Defender together to summon a much more powerful monster! Rise, my Drago Knight!”

Everyone in the crowd gasped in awe at Yuki’s move. The fusion monster like the two others Yuki had tributed in order to summon it also resembled a bipedal dragon. The difference between the three monsters, was Drago Knights armor was a bright gold in color. The monster had 2900 attack and 2800 defense.

“And while I know his base attack isn’t enough to beat your Buster Blader, Drago Knight’s effect will more than make up for that.” Yuki explained, his confidence growing now that he had one of his best monsters on the field, and was about to win, his discomfort with large crowds was beginning to ebb away. “Like your Buster Blader, my Drago Knight gains attack strength revolving around dragon monsters. Though unlike your monster, mine gets an additional 300 attack for every dragon monster in the graveyard … and it’s not just limited to my graveyard, so that means there’s a total of eight dragon monsters, giving Drago Knight a 2400 boost to his attack!”

The proctor’s eyes went wide with shock when he saw Drago Knight’s attack boost to 5300. “A-and I only have 2000, the same as you…”

“Meaning, since you don’t have anything in your back row, this duel’s over! Drago Knight, destroy Buster Blader!” Yuki ordered the holographic monster, who swung its blade making the proctor’s monster explode, and the audience cheer. Yuki had won the duel, and gained entrance to Duel Academy.

* * *

“Well fought.” A young man around the same age as Yuki said as a way of greeting. His dark hair looked to be combed back into a single point, he had on a white coat with a dark shirt, pants, and shoes, and he had his hand outstretched for Yuki to shake. “Bastion Misawa.”

“Yuki Hyoudou.” Yuki smiled, taking Bastion’s hand in his own. “I was terrified when that proctor summoned Buster Blader.”

“Yes, a card one truly needs to watch out for when running a dragon deck.” Bastion said thoughtfully, and Yuki had a feeling Bastion was planning a way to defeat Yuki’s deck as they spoke. “But you still managed to pull through and win in the end.”

“I guess luck was on my side.” Yuki replied, as another person stepped up to them.

“Luck or not.” The newcomer began. “A win’s a win!”

“And who are you?” Yuki asked the newcomer. He looked to be dressed the same as Yuki was, the only difference was his undershirt was red instead of blue. His eyes and hair were a brown color, and his hair looked to be rather messy and styled to a point towards the back, slightly similar to Bastion’s.

“Jaden Yuki.” He greeted with a laid back smile. “And I’m planning on being the next King of Games … well after I ace the entrance exam that is.”

Yuki and Bastion exchanged awkward looks. “That could be a problem. I believe Yuki and I were the last two duels of the day.”

Though Bastion was proven wrong moments later when an announcement over the PA system called for Jaden to come to exam field number 4. Both Yuki and Bastion looked towards one another and simply shrugged, the two had simply assumed Jaden had caught a lucky break. At least until they saw that his opponent looked to be one of the teachers at Duel Academy.

* * *

“Okay, I’m impressed.” Yuki said to Jayden as the two along with Bastion, and a smaller boy with teal colored hair named Cyrus boarded the choppers that would take them to Duel Academy. “I’ve never seen anyone play Elemental Heroes that well before. You just may be the second best student at Duel Academy.”

“Hey, whaddaya mean ‘second best’?” Jayden asked laughing. “If I’m second best, who’s gonna be better than me?”

Yuki laughed, taking a seat near a window after setting his bags with the other new students. “Me.”


	2. Chapter 2

Yuki heard Syrus groan as he approached the Slifer Red dorms. “This looks more like an outhouse rather than a dorm.”

“Aw come on.” Yuki said lightly, clapping Syrus’ shoulder. “It’s not so bad, the place has a lot of potential.”

“Yeah Sy, lighten up.” Jaden chimed in, as the three ascended the stairs to the dorm’s second floor. “This place’ll make a killer pad for our first year here.”

“If you two say so…” Syrus still looked skeptical, before opening the first door after reaching the second floor.

“I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit, I’m gonna go drop my stuff off in my dorm.” Yuki gave Jaden and Syrus a small wave, before opening the door leading to his own dorm, which just happened to be next to Jaden and Syrus’ dorm. Yuki’s dorm looked like a small single room apartment. On the far left side of the room were two desks, and opposite the desks was what looked to be a triple bunk bed. “Small space, triple bunks make sense.”

Yuki made his way inside, taking note of the small closet and kitchen that was immediately on his right when he walked inside. He set his bag down at the foot of the beds, also noting that all three bunks were empty. “Roomies must be out right now, hope they don’t mind me taking the bottom bunk.”

Yuki stretched out on the mattress, and pulled out his academy issue pda. The screen flickered to life showing the academy logo: DA in three colors. Red, Blue, and Yellow. From what was explained to him, these devices allowed a student to do more than just contact others. It allowed students to obviously view their homework assignments, set dates for upcoming events, and to an extent kept a record of what students dueled with what type of deck. It also kept track of the duels one had on the island, and rewarded academy currency called Duel Points to the winner, depending on both the decisiveness of the win, and the rank of the opponent according to what dorm they were in. 

Yuki pressed the envelope icon on his pda, dialed in some info, and selected video call. The screen went black, and ‘please wait’ flashed in orange letters for several seconds before someone on the other end answered.

“Hey sis.” Yuki smiled at his twin. She looked just like Yuki, dark hair with the same teal highlights, and the same teal colored eyes. 

“Hey Yuki.” Yumei gave her twin brother a smile, that didn’t fool her brother one bit. He knew Yumei was jealous, and was trying to hide it. “How’s Duel Academy?”

“I just got here, but it’s great.” Yuki sat up, and swung his legs over his bunk. “They placed me in Slifer Red though.”

Yumei laughed, feeling slightly better at the color of the jacket that Yuki held up for her to see. “Red was never your color Yu.”

“Tell me about it.” Yuki replied, setting the jacket back on his bed. “And don’t feel bad sis, the doctor said that it’s only another week. You’ll be here before you know it!”

“Yeah…” Yumei sighed softly. “I kinda wish I could have gone to your practical match though. How bad did you freeze up?”

“...enough to let my points drop to half.” Yuki admitted, looking away as Yumei laughed again.

“Oh man, you and large crowds Yu.” 

“Worse than that, my proctor had a Buster Blader on the field.” Yumei sucked in air through her teeth at the news.

“And you still won?” Yumei asked, despite the obviousness of the question. 

“Two turns later, with Drago Knight.” Yuki replied, a sense of pride welling up in him right before a terrified scream came from Jaden and Cyrus’ dorm catching both twins attention.

“Yu, what was that?” Yumei asked as her brow knitted together. 

“I’m gonna find out. I’ll talk to you later sis!” Yuki waved goodbye to his twin sister, before hitting the red button on his pda to end the video call. Seconds later, Yuki had dashed out of his own dorm and into Jaden and Cyrus’. “Guys what-?”

Yuki was met with an angry glare from a large student lying in the top bunk. He had a round face, a large nose, and his hair was styled to resemble that of a koala bear. Yuki let out a similar terrified scream that was mixed in with Jaden and Syrus’.

* * *

  
  


“Lemmie break it down for you.” The large koala looking boy Chumley Huffington began as his arms crossed. “Students here are divided up into three dorms. Obelisk Blue students are at the top. They’re in that dorm mostly because of grades or connections. Ra Yellow students are in the middle. They’re talented students with a lot to prove, and a lot of room to grow. Then there’s us, Slifer Reds. The red wonders…”

“Red wonders.” Jaden parroted, as a smile formed on his face. “That sounds cool.”

“As in.” Chumley huffed in dismissal. “I _wonder_ how losers like us ever made into the academy in the first place.”

Yuki shook his head. “That’s a pessimistic way of viewing it. Look, red may not be my favorite color in the world, but being a Slifer isn’t so bad. In fact it’s probably the best thing that could happen to us.”

“Oh yeah?” Chumley asked, his arms still crossed.

“Yeah.” Yuki answered. “Think about it, Slifers may be the lowest ranked students at the school-”

“But there’s nowhere to go but up from here!” Jaden finished, high-fiving Yuki.

* * *

  
  


Later on in the day, Yuki was exploring the island on his own wondering if he should continue using his main dragon themed deck, or the one he had made for his older brother to use in Battle City. He was so wrapped up in thought, he didn’t realize where he was going until he nearly ran into someone else.

“Oh-sorry about that!” Yuki apologized, taking several steps back from the person he had almost run into. This person stood a head taller than Yuki, had wavy brown hair that parted in the middle, dark green eyes, and was dressed in a blue jacket, white pants, and dark shoes or boots. 

“It’s fine.” The Obelisk said smiling. “Just try to watch where you’re going from now on.” 

“No promises.” Yuki chuckled, which earned him a smile from the Obelisk student.

“Say, you’re Yuki Hyodou right?” The Obelisk asked curiously. “You run a dragon theme deck don’t you?”

“Okay … just how did you know that?” Yuki asked cautiously.

The Obelisk held his hands slightly out in front of him in a placating manner. “Take it easy, I was at the practical exams. I’m a second year here at the academy, my name is Kai.”

“Nice to meet you.” Yuki shook Kai’s hand, finding the older student had a strong grip.

“Say, you have your duel disk on you?” Kai asked, which made Yuki’s stomach jolt.

“Uh, y-yeah why?” 

Kai smiled, slipping his own duel disk onto his left arm. “How about a friendly duel. I like running dragons the same as you, and I just put together a new deck. Care to be the first one to test it out?”

Yuki felt a sense of unease wash over him. This guy was an Obelisk Blue, they were at the top of the food chain, this guy was in his second year here, _and_ this would be Yuki’s first official duel at the academy. On the other hand, this guy did say he wanted to test out a new deck, so that meant he hadn’t figured out all the problems with it yet. 

“Ah, why not.” Yuki said, after a moment. He reached into his bag, and slipped his academy issue duel disc onto his left wrist. 

“Just because this is a new deck, don’t expect me to go easy on you.” Kai said smiling.

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“Duel!”

**Yuki-LP 4000**

**Kai-LP 4000**

“I’ll go first.” Kai announced, and drew a sixth card from the top of his deck. “And I’ll place two cards face down, and I’ll summon this: Armed Dragon Level 3 in attack mode!” 

The holoraphic monster was an orange and brown colored dragon, with and underbite jaw line, boxing glove-like claws, and spikes on its shoulders and trailing up along the center of its chest. **Atk-1200 Def-900**.

“Okay then, my draw.” _I need to be careful about those two cards he has face down. But I also can’t let him bring out Armed Dragon Level 5. That dragon needs to go._ “Okay Kai, two can play this game. I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon Level 4!”

Yuki’s monster more resembled a metallic looking phoenix than a dragon. **Atk-1600 Def-1000**. “But I’m not done there, I’ll mirror you, and set two cards face down, and attack you with Horus! Destroy that Armed Dragon!”

Horus let out a stream of black fire from its beak that engulfed Armed Dragon Level 3, and caused the monster do shatter in an explosion of pixels which dropped Kai’s Life Points by 400.

**Kai-LP 3600**.

“Not bad.” Kai smiled. “But now you’ve triggered my trap! Call of the Haunted! Now come back Armed Dragon!”

“Knew it was too easy…” Yuki said, as Armed Dragon came back to Kai’s field. “But before my turn ends, since Horus inflicted damage to you, I can tribute him, and summon Horus Level 6!”

The small metallic phoenix dissolved, only for a larger more ferocious looking version of the same monster to rise in its place. **Atk-2600 Def-1600**.

“Very impressive, but now it’s my turn. Draw! And now I’ll tribute my Armed Dragon, to summon Armed Dragon Level 5!” Kai’s smaller dragon vanished, and was replaced by a far more bulked up and fierce looking dragon. **Atk-2400 Def-1700**. “Next I activate the spell card Swords of Revealing Light! Now neither of us can attack for the next three turns. And that brings my turn to an end.”

“Okay then, my turn.” Yuki drew the top card from his deck. “I summon Drago Warrior in attack mode.” The familiar bipedal armored dragon appeared on Yuki’s field, growling menacingly at Kai. **Atk-1600 Def-1400**. “Now, Horus attack Armed Dragon!” Yuki declared, making Kai’s eyes go wide.

“Hold on, you can’t attack! Swords of Revealing light is still up!” 

Yuki smirked shaking his head. “It’s part of Horus’ effect. He’s not affected by spell cards my opponent plays! Horus, destroy Armed Dragon!”

Horus’ black fire blasted Armed Dragon Level 5 into small pixels the same way Level 3 had been destroyed, with the only difference being the force of the blast. 

**Kai-LP 3200**

“And now, thanks to Horus’ effect, I can summon the most powerful variant of Horus! So rise, Horus Level 8!” The strongest form of Horus rose from the ground, flew around both Yuki and Kai before landing behind Yuki. **Atk-3000 Def-1800**.

“Alright, now it’s my turn.” Kai drew and smiled. “Now I’ll play Card of Sanctity. Now we can each draw until we have 6 cards in our hand.”

_This isn’t good, he’s clearly got something sinister in mind…_

“Now I’ll summon Lord of D.” A rather menacing looking man with a dark cape and dragon skull shoulder pauldrons and helmet materialized in front of Kai. **Atk-1200 Def-800**. “Then I give him the spell card Flute of Summoning Dragon! With this, I can special summon two more dragon monsters! So say hello to another Armed Dragon Level 5, and Blue Eyes White Dragon!”

Yuki’s eyes went wide. He only knew of one person on earth who had a Blue eyes, and he’d dueled him before. Yet here he was staring down yet another Blue Eyes.

Armed Dragon Level 5 **Atk-2400 Def-1600**

Blue Eyes White Dragon **Atk-3000 Def-2500**

“You still have another turn before you can attack me.” Yuki reminded, only for Kai to smirk. “Oh no…”

“Oh yeah, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, and destroy my swords spell card. Now I’m free to attack, but I think I’m gonna do something else instead. I’ll send the second Blue Eyes in my hand to the Graveyard, and use Armed Dragon’s effect to destroy Horus.”

Yuki’s eyes went wide. “No! Horus!” The dragon let out a cry of anguish before it exploded.

“And now, Armed Dragon, attack Drago Warrior!” Kai ordered his monster.

“Not happening, I special summon Drago Defender in defense mode! See if Drago Warrior is the only monster on the field, if he’s attacked I can summon Drago Defender. At the cost of half of it’s defense points, Drago Defender can automatically end the battle phase!”

The bipedal large shielded dragon appeared in front of its partner monster, blocking Armed Dragon’s attack with said shield. **Atk-1000 Def-2000 <1000**.

Kai was smiling brightly. “You’re good Yuki, I’m surprised someone of your skill is only a Slifer.”

“Well you saw my practical duel, I have a thing with crowds.” Yuki explained as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “They really put me off.”

“Well we’ll have to work on that, but for now it’s your turn.” Kai said, his smile still on his face. 

“Right then, my draw. And first off, I’ll play this: Harpy’s Feather Duster, knocking out your back row!” A large gust of wind shattered Kai’s back row, making the face down cards explode in a flurry of pixels. “Then I’ll activate my spell card Monster Reborn, bringing back my Horus Level 6! But he’s not staying around, because I have the card Level Up! Now I can ignore summoning conditions and special summon Horus Level 8!”

Once again Horus’ strongest form rose onto Yuki’s side of the field, roaring at Kai’s monsters clearly angered at having been destroyed by Armed Dragon. **Atk-3000 Def-1800**

“Now I’ll activate Polymarization, and fuse Drago Warrior and Drago Defender, and summon Drago Knight!” At Yuki’s call, the golden armored bipedal dragon rose to stand by Horus. **Atk-2900 Def-2800**. “And since you were at the practical exam, you know that with each dragon monster in the graveyard, Drago Knight get an additional 300 attack!”

Drago Knight **Atk-4700 Def-2800**

“Oh this isn’t good…” Kai said nervously.

“It gets worse for you.” Yuki said, taking another card from his hand. “I have this! Alexandrite Dragon!”

Alexandrite Dragon was a large bipedal dragon with bright jewel like scales all over its body. **Atk-2000 Def-100**. “Alexandrite Dragon attack Lord of D!”

Yuki’s newest dragon let a bright stream of fire out of its mouth, engulfing Lord of D, and making the spellcaster shatter.

**Kai-LP 2800**

“Now Horus, destroy Armed Dragon!” At Yuki’s order, Horus shot its black fire at Kai’s dragon, engulfing it and causing the powerful monster to explode.

**Kai-LP 2000**

Drago Knight **Atk-5000 Def 2800**

“Now go Drago Knight! Destroy Blue Eyes White Dragon!” Drago Knight leapt high into the air, its blade raised above its head. The golden armored dragon swung its weapon down, splitting the powerful monster in half before exploding in a cloud of pixels. 

**Kai-LP 0000**

Kai smiled, applauding Yuki as their duel disks deactivated. “Impressive, that deck of yours was really well constructed.”

Yuki laughed nervously, not noticing before that a large crowd of Obelisk Blue students had gathered around all with awe struck looks on their faces. “A-are you sure that was a new deck? It felt like you’ve dueled with it before.”

“Just constructed it a few days ago.” Kai chuckled, shaking Yuki’s hand in congratulations. “But that’s quite powerful deck you put together. I’ll have to duel you with my actual deck sometime.”

“Well that’s gonna have to wait.” A female’s voice behind Yuki made him jump in surprise. He wheeled about, and his cheeks flushed with color. A very attractive girl about the same age as him was standing a few paces away. Her hair was a sandy blond in color, her eyes seemed to be a light hazel, and like the majority of the students surrounding them, she had on an Obelisk Blue uniform. “The academy welcome dinner is about to start.”

“Uh-oh, I’d better get back to my dorm! It was nice meeting you Kai!” Yuki called, running off in the direction of the Slifer dorm.

“Hey wait!” The attractive girl called after Yuki. “What’s your name!?” 

“Yuki Hyodou!” He answered, continuing to run towards the dorms. “What’s yours!?

“Alexis Rhodes!”


	3. Chapter 3

Dr. Crowler was going over his lesson plans for his first lecture of the new school year, though he was not happy about having to continue teaching the Slifers for the enth year in a row. Especially one of the newest Slifer students.

“Curse that Jaden Yuki…” He growled while grinding his teeth. “I’ll teach him to make a fool out of-” Crowler was cut off when he heard a knock at the door. “Ah, yes come in.”

Crowler's office door opened, revealing Kai was on the other side. “Excuse me Dr.”

“Kai, what brings you here?” Crowler asked, his fingers lacing together underneath his pointed chin. “Classes don’t start for another few hours.”

“I wanted to talk to you about one of the new students.” Kai explained, as he approached Crowler, closing the door behind him. “His name is Yuki Hyodou, he’s in the Slifer dorm.”

Crowler’s eyes narrowed, and he uttered an unmistakable growl of annoyance. As the headmaster of the Obelisk Blue dorms, Crowler hated everything to do with the Slifers. “What about him?”

“I don’t think he should be in the Slifer dorms.” Kai said, getting straight to his point. 

Crowler narrowed his eyes curiously. “You have my attention Kai, continue.”

“I dueled him yesterday before the welcome dinner for the new students. He has a really strong deck, and knows how to play it.” Kai said, before continuing. “I was at the practical exams the same as you Dr. We both saw how skilled he is.”

“Yes, I know the young man you’re talking about.” Crowler said. He had stopped grinding his teeth, and the irritated growl had ceased as well. “But I sense there’s more to this story…”

“There is.” Kai took a breath before continuing. “Like I said, we dueled yesterday as I wanted to test out my new deck. Yuki beat me soundly without losing a single point. He’s got a lot of skill, far too much skill to be placed in the Slifer dorms.”

“Are you telling me, you lost to a Slif-” Crowler began, before Kai cut him off.

“We both know that’s not the point Dr.” Kai slightly raised his voice, cutting Crowler off. “Yuki’s incredibly skilled, his only problem is crowds. He gets nervous around large crowds.”

Crowler sighed, rubbing his eyelids with his fingertips. “Alright Kai, I’ll look into why this Yuki was placed into Slifer. In the meantime, if you want to take him under your wing and help him get over his phobia of crowds, be my guest. Just don’t be late for the first lesson of the year.”

* * *

Yuki had gotten to class early, along with a handful of several others. He was currently looking over the deck of another Slifer, who liked to play an insect deck. “Okay, this is a good strategy here. Needle Worm will force your opponent to mil 5 of their cards, and your Man-Eater Bug will destroy any monster on your opponent’s field. But, you do need some added protection to bring out your bigger monsters.”

“Well what do you reccomend?” The Slifer asked. He was slightly shorter than Yuki, and had dark hair that fell in front of his eyes.

Yuki thought for a moment. “Try DNA Surgery, that will switch all monsters summoned to insects, and play Insect Barrier which will prevent you from being attacked by insect monsters. That should give you enough time to bring out one of your stronger monsters, like your Insect Queen or either of your Greath Moth cards.”

“A good strategy.” Bastion supplied from the seat next to Yuki. “And your Insect Queen will grow stronger each time she inflicts damage, due to her effect of becoming stronger with each insect monster on the field, and supplying you with insect tokens.”

“And.” Alexis supplied from the seat just behind Yuki. “You can use Pinch Hopper and Eradicating Erisol to bring out Insect Queen faster.”

“Oh by the way Yuki.” Bastion began, giving the Slifer a curious look. “Where are Jaden and Syrus?”

Yuki tilted his head. “I’m not sure. I knocked on their door, but there was no response. My guess is they’re still asleep.”

“Well they’ll be late if they don’t hurry.” Alexis said, looking disapproving at this news. 

“Yeah, tell me about it…” Yuki sighed. “It wouldn’t be good for them, if they ended up getting detention on their first-oh never mind.”

As if on cue, Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley ran into the classroom. All three looked rather winded, especially Chumley who looked like he had just run a marathon. Though with his body type, a little exercise may be good for him.

* * *

Classes on the first day consisted of dueling history and philosophy, which was taught by the head of Slifer, Professor Lymen Banner. He explained to the class that the game of Duel Monsters was originally played in ancient Egypt with stone tablets instead of cards.

 _‘Only half true Professor.’_ Yuki thought to himself as Professor Banner continued his lecture on the ancient games. Having bared witness to Pharoah Atem’s memories, Yuki knew something else about the game of Duel Monsters. That there were creatures that were not summoned by the stone tablets, but by the person’s own life force. However, thinking it would be incredibly rude to interrupt Professor Banner’s lecure, especially on the first day, Yuki did not speak up about his point. 

Then there was Dr. Crowler’s class. The head of Obelisk taught the finer points of the modern game of Duel Monsters: Attributes, monster types, the difference between normal and flip-effects, dueling strategies ect…

“Now then.” Crowler began, glancing at Jaden who like in every class that day, had fallen asleep, and giving the Slifer a disgusted and offended look. “Who can tell me what O.T.K stands for, and what it consists of?” 

Crowler cast a look around the class, a smile formed on his face when he saw all of his Obelisk students had their hands raised. He gave a nod of approval to several of the Ra’s, and a shocked expression formed on his face when he saw one of the Slifer’s had their hand in the air. “Oh, very well. Please answer Mr…?”

“Hyoudou Sir.” Yuki said, getting to his feet. “Yuki Hyoudou.”

 _‘Interesting … so this is the Slifer student Kai mentioned earlier this morning. The circumstances of his chosen dorm are interesting, but let’s see how well he answers this question.’_ Crowler thought before speaking again. “Very well, continue Mr. Hyoudou.”

“O.T.K stands for; one turn kill. It’s a strategy for winning the duel in one decisive turn.” Yuki paused for a moment, before continuing his explanation. “The most common way is to reduce your opponent’s points to zero with a powerful monster. Say someone uses … I don’t know … Power Bond in conjunction with three Cyber Dragons. But that strategy comes with a risk. Someone could activate Threatening Roar, or use Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, Draining Shield, or Negate Attack.”

There was a lot of soft murmuring around the class, most notably coming from the Obelisk section of the classroom, before Yuki continued. “Exodia is another way, but that’s really more of an instant win rather than a one turn kill. Last Turn is a decent way to score a one turn kill, especially if you back your own monster up with quick play attack boosts like Battle Fusion.”

“Alright Mr. Hyoudou, you’ve made your point.” Crowler said, though he was trying his hardest to not sound impressed. _‘Kai was right. This boy should certainly not be a Slifer. I’ll have to talk with him after class and ask him why for myself.’_

Unbeknownst to Dr. Crowler and the rest of the class, they were being watched by two other students both dressed in Obelisk Blue uniforms. One male and one female.

“Okay, so this kid knows what he’s talking about.” The female Obelisk said. She had dark purple eyes, and her hair which matched the color of her eyes fell almost to the middle of her back. “I don’t see the trouble with crowds you mentioned earlier.”

“It’s when he duels.” Kai said, as Crowler angrily woke up Jaden and Cyrus. Beginning to berate them for sleeping in his class. “I saw it at the practical exam, and he kinda froze up after our duel the other day.”

“So what do you want me to do about it?” The female asked, looking slightly annoyed. “I don’t think I’ll be of any help here.”

“What I want you to do is duel him after classes let out for the day.” Kai said simply, making his friend look at him like he was crazy.

“Are you kidding me? With the deck I play, I’ll crush him.”

“Look, I just want to help him get over his phobia of crowds when he duels. I doubt it would matter to Yuki whether he won or lost against you, so long as this worked.” Kai said, making the female Obelisk sigh. 

“Fine Kai, but if this backfires, don’t blame me.”

* * *

“Mr. Hyoudou, I’d like a word with you in private.” Crowler said so only Yuki would hear, as the rest of the class got up to leave the rather large classroom.

Yuki gulped nervously. His first day here, and already a teacher was holding him behind. Was this because of his answer about one turn kills?

“It’s been brought to my attention that even though you’re in Slifer, you clearly shouldn’t be.” Dr. Crowler began, his fingers lacing together under his chin. “Care to explain why that is?”

Yuki breathed a sigh of relief. So he wasn’t in trouble about his answer after all. “It’s because of my twin sister Yumei. We planned on entering Duel Academy together … but she was involved in that bullet train accident in Domino City.”

Dr. Crowler visibly winced. “Yes I heard about that. Thankfully there were no fatalities, though there were plenty of injuries. And your twin sister was one of them?”

“Yes sir.” Yuki answered and continued. “You see, I requested to be in Slifer because Yumei couldn’t make it to the practical exams. Allow me to explain a further Sir. Chancellor Sheppard agreed to let Yumei attend the academy, as she’s scheduled to be released from the hospital by the end of the week. However since she couldn’t make it to the practicals, I felt it wouldn’t be fair if I was placed in Ra, as that’s only one promotion duel away from becoming an Obelisk. And I do know how things work on the island, that all new students have to be placed into Slifer and work their way up.”

Crowler’s eyes widened in realization. “You asked to be put in Slifer for the sake of your sister?”

“Yes Sir.” Yuki answered. “I didn’t want her to feel like I was already ahead of her by being a Ra. So until after Yumei get’s here, I’m not taking a promotion to Ra or Obelisk.”

Crowler gave Yuki a very rare smile. “You have a good heart Mr. Hyoudou. I expect great things from you.”

* * *

“Yuki.” Hearing his name as he exited the class, made Yuki start in surprise. He whirled to his right to see Kai approaching him. “There you are, come with me.”

“H-hey wait, where are we going Kai?” Yuki asked, as Kai grabbed his arm and pulled him off somewhere.

“We’re gonna work on that problem with crowds you seem to have.” Kai said, causing Yuki’s face to blanch.

“Oh no… Kai you aren’t thinking what I think you are…”

To Yuki’s horror, Kai was thinking _exactly_ what Yuki was afraid Kai was thinking. The older Obelisk had led him to the academy’s dueling arena, which was currently packed with people. And standing in the middle of the arena, on a slightly raised platform was the same Obelisk female Kai had been speaking with about dueling Yuki earlier.

“Kai…” Yuki moaned, his face now drained of most of its color.

“Relax Yuki.” There was a smile on Kai’s face as he spoke, and led him onto the platform in the middle of the arena. 

“Yeah… easy for you to say. You don’t have a phobia of large crowds.” Yuki said, feeling like the best thing to do would be to tuck tail and run.

“Kai, this is a bad idea. He looks like he’s about to pass out.” There was a note of sympathy in the female Obelisk’s voice. 

Kai sighed. “Yuki, right now I want you to focus on one thing only.”

“What’s that…?” Yuki asked, as his legs began to shake.

“Just focus on this duel.” Kai said, giving Yuki an encouraging smile. “It’s not about beating her today, as she’s not your true opponent.”

“Oh jeez, thanks Kai.” The female Obelisk scowled playfully at Kai.

“Look.” Kai said, waving away her words. “Just focus on dueling her and that alone. Think you can do that?”

“I guess we’ll find out…” Yuki replied shakily.

Kai chuckled lightly clapping Yuki on the shoulder. “Tell you what, I’ll throw in one of by Blue-Eyes if you can get through this.”

Yuki looked at Kai like he was crazy. “Are you-?”

“Oh yeah.” Kai smiled.

“Hey, you two done talking? Because I’m getting bored over here.”

“Y-yeah…” Yuki said, taking a deep breath and slipping his duel disk on. “Whenever you are… I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“It’s Fujin Hibiki.” She replied while activating her duel disk. “Now are you ready or not?”

“Yeah. I’m ready.”

“Duel!”

**Yuki-LP 4000**

**Fujin-LP 4000**

“Alright, since I was forced into this duel, I’ll draw first.” Yuki said, his hand shaking as he drew his sixth card. _‘Okay Yuki, just listen to what Kai said. It’s not about winning, it’s just about focusing on this duel.’_ “I’ll summon Horus Level 4 in attack mode!”

A small metallic looking phoenix appeared in front of Yuki. **Atk-1600 Def-1000.** “Then I’ll set a card face down, and call it a turn.

“Alright, well then it’s my draw. And I’ll start off by summoning this! My Element Valkyrie in attack mode!” A woman with pale skin, red and blue colored armor and a staff that looked as if it was both burning and freezing materialized in front of Fujin. **Atk-1500 Def-1200.** “And that’s not all, because thanks to one of her effects, if there’s a fire monster on the field like say… your Horus, then my Valkyrie gets an additional 500 attack!”

“Not good.” Bastion said from up in the crowd, seated next to Alexis. “Now that Valkyrie has 2000 attack.”

“No kidding.” Alexis said. “And now Yuki’s gonna be unable to capitalize on Horus’ effect.”

Fujin smirked. “Now go Valkyrie! Destroy Horus!”

The Valkyrie shot a stream of fire at Horus, but when the flames cleared Horus was still standing, which shocked not only Fujin but the rest of the crowd. “What just happened? My Valkyrie has more attack points than your Horus.”

“It did.” Yuki said, a touch of a nervous edge in his voice. “But then I played this: the quick play card Shrink.”

Fujin looked shocked. “B-but that will cut my monster’s attack by half…”

Element Valkyrie **Atk-2000-1000**

“Which means this can happen. Horus, destroy Element Valkyrie!” Yuki ordered his dragon, who blasted the Valkyrie into pieces with a stream of black fire.

**Fujin-LP 3400**

“And since Horus inflicted battle damage to you, I can special summon a stronger version. Rise, Horus Level 6!” At Yuki’s words, a larger version of the metallic phoenix rose where the smaller one had been moments before. **Atk-2600 Def-1600**. 

“Not bad, looks like Kai’s advice is already taking effect.” Fujin said with a smile. “Okay then, I’ll set two cards face down, and end my turn.” Two other cards appeared face down in front of Fujin as her turn ended.

“Alright, my draw.” 

“And you triggered my trap! Threatening Roar!” One of Fujin’s face down cards was revealed, causing a loud roar to emanate from the card. “And now you’re unable to attack me this turn!” 

“Smart play.” Bastion said, nodding in his approval. “Now she’ll have another turn to put something together.”

“Alright… So then I’ll do this.” Yuki revealed a card to Fujin. “By sending this Thunder Dragon I have in my hand, I can get two more Thunder Dragons in my hand. Then, I’ll play Polymerisation, and merge the two Thunder Dragons together and fusion summon my Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!”

A rumble of thunder echoed around the arena, dark cloud formed above Yuki which unleashed a large bolt of lightning. It struck the ground in front of the Slifer student, and when the lightning had vanished, a large orange scaled dragon with identical heads was standing next to Horus. **Atk-2800 Def-2100.**

“And to end my turn, I’ll set another card face down.”

“Okay then.” Fujin said, drawing her next card. “I’ll play Pot of Greed allowing me to draw two cards.” Fujin drew two more cards from her deck and smirked. “Okay, first I’ll play the spell card Nightmare Steel Cage!”

A large domed cage surrounded Yuki and his monsters, causing the Slifer’s eyes widen in shock

“Now unfortunately, this means neither of us get to attack until the end of your second turn, but I can still do this. I’ll play the spell card Double Summon, allowing me to normal summon twice this turn, so I’ll summon Queens Knight, and my Kings Knight!”

Two formidable looking monsters appeared on Fujin’s side of the field. A male and a fierce looking male both clad in armor.

Queens Knight **Atk-1500 Def-1600**

King’s Knight **Atk-1500 Def-1400**

“And since my two monsters are on my field, I can summon Jack’s Knight!” At Fujin’s call up a third monster, the youngest of the royal knight trio appeared between the two other warriors. **Atk-1900 Def-1000.** “That’ll end my turn.”

 _‘This is weird. I get the feeling she’s just toying with me. Like she’s setting me up for something really big. I’m gonna have to be really careful about how I do things now. Okay for now, let’s just focus on getting Horus Level 8 out on the field.’_ Yuki thought to himself as he drew his next card. “Okay, first I’m gonna set another card face down, and then I’ll attack your King’s Knight with Horus!”

“Hold on, you can’t attack! Nightmare Steel Cage is still up!” Fujin sounded shocked at Yuki’s decision to attack, and the knowing looks on both his and Kai’s face.

“Sorry, but thanks to Horus’ effect, he’s immune to the effects of my opponent’s spell cards.” Yuki explained. “Now Horus, destroy King’s Knight!”

Horus roared, and blasted the monster away with its black fire.

**Fujin-LP 2300**

“And now, horus becomes stronger! Rise, Horus Level 8!” As Horus Level 6 vanished, its strongest version appeared. It roared, and took flight around the ring to land behind Yuki. **Atk-3000 Def-1800**

“Amazing, he had that card in his deck?” Bastion asked in astonishment.

“Woah, that’s a sweet card!” Jaden said, as he and Cyrus had just joined Bastion and Alexis. Having arrived late, since they had fallen asleep almost as soon as Crowler had finished yelling at them for sleeping in his class.

“Yeah, and the best part is that Yuki doesn’t look as nervous as he was when this duel started.” Alexis said, as she was joined by her two friends Jasmine, who was an Obelisk female with dark hair, and Mindy who was an Obelisk with brown hair. 

Jasmine let out an unamused huff. “Well he’s gonna be in for it.”

“Yeah.” Mindy supplied. “Especially if Fu can pull off her one turn kill move.”

“Not bad, but unfortunately for you my trap activates.” Fujin said, revealing one of her face down cards. “Call Of The Haunted, now my King’s Knight comes back to my field, and it’s my turn so I draw.” Fujin smiled at the card she had just drawn. “You played well Yuki, I’ll give you that, but this duel is over. I activate the spell card; Ride Of the Valkyries!”

“That’s it!” Mindy exclaimed in excitement. “She drew her one turn kill card!”

“Now I’m immune to damage until the start of my next battle phase, and I can attack you with all the Valkyrie cards in my deck!” Fujin smiled, as she inserted the card into her duel disk making all the students present gasp in shock.

“Sorry Fujin, but that’s not happening!” Yuki said, which puzzled Fujin.

“What do you mean?” She asked tilting her head. 

“Horus’ effect allows me to negate and destroy one of your spell cards during either player’s turn. So tell Heimdall to hold off on summoning the Bifrost, because your spell card is going straight to Valhalla!”

Horus roared, and destroyed Fujin’s card with a burst of it’s black fire.

“Hey, that’s unfair!” Mindy huffed angrily, which only made Alexis shake her head.

“This guy is good. Way too good to only be a Slifer.”

“Okay, well then if I can summon my Valkyries, I’ll go to Plan B. I sacrifice all three monsters on my field, and summon Gilford The Lightning!”

“Oh crap…” Yuki groaned, as the three knights dissolved, and a heavily muscled warrior with a large blade took their place. **Atk-2800 Def-1400**

“Oh, and did I mention his special effect?” Fujin asked, though her question was rather rhetorical. “When he’s summoned he destroys all monsters my opponent has.”

“Oh no…” Both Horus and Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon let out anguished cries as they were destroyed. “Okay… okay, that was a pretty good Plan B, but two can play at this game. I have my own Call Of The Haunted trap card, so my Thunder Dragon is coming right back.”

As if on cue, the large orange scaled dragon came back onto Yuki’s side of the field. “And until the end of my next turn, your monster can’t attack. And with no other cards in your hand, you’ve really got nothing left. So It’s my turn now, and I’ll play the Pot Of Greed I just drew.”

Yuki smirked, as he saw the cards he had drawn. “Okay, first I’ll play my Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your Steel Cage, and I chain that with my next face down card. DNA Surgery! With this, all monsters summoned to the field are now dragon monsters!” 

At Yuki’s words, Fujin’s Nightmare Steel Cage vanished, and her Gilford had taken on a more draconic appearance. “Now I’ll activate both cards I drew with Pot Of Greed! First off, is the spell card; Emblem Of A Legendary Warrior! Now I can add a Buster Blader from my deck to my hand. So I bring Buster Blader The Legendary Warrior into my hand since he’s treated as Buster Blader. Next I’ll play the field spell card Fusion Gate, now there’s no need for my Pollymarization spell card. Finally I’ll fuse my Buster Blader with my Thunder Dragon, and I’ll bring out Buster Blader The Dragon Slayer Swordsman!”

Everyone in the crowd gasped when Yuki summoned his monster. It looked similar to a normal Buster Blader, but with silver colored armor and golden trimmings. **Atk-2800 Def-2500.**

“And there’s more.” Yuki explained. “While my monster can’t attack you directly, he does gain an additional 1000 attack points for each dragon monster you control.”

Fujin gasped in shock. “And with your DNA Surgery on the field…”

Buster Blader **Atk-3800** “Also Fujin, my monster also forces yours to enter into defense mode. And unfortunately for you, you will take damage due to Buster Blader’s piercing effect.”

Kai couldn’t help the smile that was forming on his face. Even though he had told Yuki he didn’t have to win, he was proud that he was about to. “Do it Yuki.”

“Buster Blader, attack Gilford!” Yuki ordered his monster, who cleaved the now draconic warrior in half with its blade, with the attack following through and hitting Fujin.

**Fujin-LP 0000**

The crowd gathered, exploded into cheers and applause as the holograms faded. And Yuki felt Kai’s arm wrap around his shoulders. “See? What did I tell you, just focus on the duel and the crowd is no problem!”

“Y-yeah…” Yuki chuckled nervously, especially when Kai discretely slipped a card into his hand, which was undoubtedly The Blue-Eyes he had promised Yuki. 

“Not bad Yuki.” Fujin said, applauding the Slifer along with everyone else in the arena as she approached both him and Kai. “Looks like Kai was right, about you being an incredibly strong duelist.” 

“Told you.” Kai laughed, ruffling Yuki’s hair.

Up in one of the open entrances to the arena, Dr. Crowler stood slightly out of sight, having been watching since the start of the duel. _‘Yes, I see why Kai lost yesterday even if he was just using a newly constructed deck. Under normal circumstances, Yuki should be recommended for a promotion, however I know he’ll refuse. At least until his sister arrives. I expect great things from you Mr. Hyoudou.’_

“Great duel Yuki!” Jaden high-fived his friend, as he had rushed the stage along with Cyrus and Chumley. Alexis, and Bastion however were taking a far calmer approach. 

“Good show indeed.” Bastion said, shaking Yuki’s hand in congratulations when he’d reached him.

“There is one thing I want to know though.” Alexis mused. “You don’t duel like someone who should be placed in Slifer Red. So why are you in that dorm?”

* * *

“Now it all makes sense.” Bastion said. The large group was just outside the main building of the academy, having listened to Yuki explain exactly why he was in Slifer.

“Yeah… it does…” Yuki wheezed due to the rib cracking hug Fujin had him in. “Someone help… lungs… collapsing.”

“Fu, let him go.” Kai said trying not to laugh.

Yuki let out a grateful gasp of air when Fujin finally released him from her iron grip. “Doctors say she’ll be safe to travel by the end of this week, so she’ll be here either on one of our days off, or by the end of the school day on Monday.”

“Well.” Kai began. “If she duels like you, the competition is gonna be intense this year.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been almost a full week since the start of the new year at Duel Academy, and thanks to Kai’s tutoring Yuki had been racking up the wins. However there was a certain trio of Obelisks that were not happy about this. Chazz Princeton was skulking around the empty hallways of the main building of the academy, flanked as always by his two goons. Raizou who was larger than the two, though looked to be all muscle walked along Chazz on the right. Torimaki who was the same height as Chazz wore rounded glasses and had dark blue hair, that had an elongated bang on the right, that he had curled slightly. 

“Who does that slacker think he is?” Chazz growled. “Thinking he’s a big shot just because he’s won a couple of duels. People say he’s gonna be the next King of Games!? That’s my destiny!”

“But Chazz.” Torimaki said. “He’s being coached by Kai Murrasame.”

“Yeah.” Raizou supplied. “And Kai’s got the highest marks out of all the second year students.”

Chazz let out an exasperated growl. “You two aren’t helping! If he keeps winning, then he’ll get promoted, and there’s only room at the top for one person, and that’s me!”

“So what do you want us to do about it Chazz?” Torimaki asked in an attempt to sound helpful, making Chazz stop in his tracks, and look to the blue haired boy at his side. An evil grin slowly spread across the spiky haired Obelisk’s face.

“What I want you to do Torimaki, is show that Slifer Slacker what a real dragon duelist is capable of.” Chazz said, his evil grin growing.

* * *

Yumei smiled brightly as she exited the man building of the academy. She may have had to start in Slifer Red after missing the practical and a full week of classes, but thanks to her parents and her elder brother pulling some strings, Yumei had been allowed to take Duel Academy’s written exam. Her score had been so high that Chancellor Sheppard allowed her admittance to the school once the doctors had permitted her to travel.

She slipped the red blazer over her dark under shirt, before frowning and shaking her head. She rolled the jacket’s sleeves up so the sleeve stopped just below her elbows. “That’s better, now let’s see if I can go surprise Yu.”

However Yumei never made it past the first step when a rather angry voice caught her attention. “Hey Slifer!”

Yumei turned around with a scowl on her face to see three Obelisks headed her way, and from the looks on their faces, they clearly meant business. “And just what do you three waant?”

“Oh very cute.” Chazz growled coming to a stop a few feet away from Yumei. “You think you’re a big shot now? Just because you’ve won every duel you’ve been in this week, doesn’t mean you’ll ever get to talk down to an Obelisk!”

_ ‘Okay Yu, just what have you been doing?’ _ Yumei thought to herself, but decided to play it off. “Well then, why not put your money where your mouth is hm?”

“While I’d love to be the one that destroys you.” Chazz began, a scowl on his face after Yumei’s remark about putting up. “Torimaki here has the honor of taking you down.”

Torimaki stepped up closer to Chazz, an off-putting smile on his face. “Time to show you how what a real dragon deck can do Slifer Slime.”

“Alright, but just so you know, I won’t be using my dragon deck today.” Yumei replied, hoping her bluff would work. “I just constructed a new deck, and you have the honor of being the first person I take down with it.”

Torimaki snarled as he put his duel disk on. “Just shut up and duel.”

“Gladly.” Yumei said with a confident smile.

“Duel!”

**Yumei-LP 4000**

**Torimaki-LP 4000**

“Ladies first.” Yumei said, drawing her sixth card. “Alright, I’ll play the spell card Double Summon. Now I’m able to normal summon two monsters this turn, and I chose Silent Swordsman, and Valkyrian Knight!”

Two monsters appeared on Yumei’s field, one a noble looking female, and the second a small and comical looking warrior. 

Valkyrian Knight  **Atk-1900 Def-1600**

Silent Swordsman  **Atk-1000 Def-1000**

“Next, I’ll place a card face down, and that will end my turn.” A card appeared face down at Yumei’s feet behind her two monsters.  _ ‘Alright, so far so good. These stooges haven’t realized I’m not Yu. Maybe once I beat this guy, I’ll let them know.’ _

“Alright, now it’s my draw.” Torimaki drew, but Yumei cut him off.

“And my trap activates! Threatening roar, now you can’t attack me this turn!” Yumei’s trap flipped face up, and a loud roar eminated from the revealed card.

Torimaki growled. “Fine, I’ll activate Cost Down, lowering my monsters level at the cost of one card.” The Obelisk selected one card, and placed it into his graveyard. “Now I’ll summon Luster Dragon Number Two!”

A large dragon with silver colored scales emerged in front of Torimaki  **Atk-2400 Def-1200** . “See the difference between us yet Slifer? I can pull out strong monsters in one turn, where it takes you three to get your strongest on the field.”

_ ‘Obviously talking about Horus … or he could be mentioning my Silent Swordsman, but that doesn’t matter.’ _ Yumei shook her head as she drew her next card. “One good move on your first turn doesn’t mean there’s a gap in skill.”

Torimaki scowled yet again. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ll show you.” Yumei replied, revealing a card from her hand. “I’ll play Pot of Greed, now I can draw two more cards. Then I’ll tribute my Silent Swordsman Level Three, and special Summon my Silent Swordsman.”

The small cartoonish looking warrior vanished, to be replaced with a far more serious looking version of the monster Yumei had just tributed.  **Atk-1000 Def-1000** . “Then I’ll summon my second Valkyrian Knight, and end my turn.”

Torimaki scoffed. “Nothing in your back row? No wonder you’re in Slifer. Now watch this, I’ll discard the Thunder Dragon I have in my hand, to get two more. Then I’ll use Pollymarization and fuse them together. So come on out Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!”

A large orange scaled dragon with two heads appeared on Torimaki’s field.  **Atk-2800 Def-2100** . “Now, Thunder Dragon attack!”

“Not happening.” Yumei said while shaking her head. “You see with my Valkyrian Knight on the field, you can’t attack any monster on my field but her. And I have two of them, so that means you can’t attack!”

“Lucky move.” Torimaki frowned. “Fine, I’ll set a card face down and end my turn.”

“Complain all you want, bring out all the strong monsters you want, unless you get rid of my knights, you can’t attack me!” Yumei drew her next card, and her Silent Swordsman’s attack increased. 

Silent Swordsman  **Atk-1500**

“Even better, now I’ll attack you with my Silent Swordsman!” Yumei declared which shocked the three Obelisks. “Destroy Thunder Dragon!”

“You’re crazy, if you want to lose life points and your monster, then be my guest.” Torimaki said shrugging. 

“Crazy, hardly. Because I have the quick play spell Silent Sword Slash!” Yumei inserted the spell card into her duel disk. “Now my monster’s attack increases by 1500!”

Silent Swordsman  **Atk-3000**

Torimaki’s eyes widened. “That’s not happening, because I have a trap waiting. Sakuretsu Armor!”

Yumei only smirked as her monster destroyed Thunder dragon, making the Obelisk’s points drop.

**Torimaki-LP 3800**

“What the hell!? Your attacking monster should have been destroyed by my trap! What did you do!?” Torimaki demanded. 

“It’s the effect of my spell card.” Yumei explained. “See my Swordsman isn’t affected by my opponent’s card effects the turn I activate Silent Sword Slash, so looks like you just wasted your trap. And it looks like it’s my turn, and my monster’s attack grows.”

Silent Swordsman  **Atk-2000**

“And next, I’ll give him the equip card Lightning Blade, boosting my monster’s attack by 800!” As Yumei placed the card into her duel disk, a longsword crackling with electricity appeared in front of her Silent Swordsman, which was taken by the warrior.

Silent Swordsman  **Atk-2800**

“Now Silent Swordsman attack Luster Dragon!’ Yumei ordered, for her monster to behead Torimaki’s dragon, which caused it to explode in a cloud of Pixels.

**Torimaki-LP 3400**

“Now my Valkyrian Knights are ending this, attack!” Both of Yumei’s monsters charged forward, slashing Torimaki in such a way that their blades created an X-shaped pattern.

**Torimaki-LP 0000**

“And that’s game over.” Yumei said, as her duel disk deactivated. “Real dragon duelist huh? I didn’t see much.”

“You think this is over Slifer?” Torimaki growled, as he got back to his feet. 

“Yeah it is.” Yumei said, as she descended the academy steps. “Especially I’m not the person you were looking for.” Yumei laughed as she walked away, heading for the Slifer dorms. “Jeez what a bunch of idiots. Can't believe they didn't figure it out earlier...”

* * *

Close to the Slifer dorms, another duel was taking place. This one between Yuki and a Ra, specifically Bastion Misawa. Bastion had challenged Yuki, as the Slifer had mentioned a second deck he hadn’t used in years. On Bastion’s field were two brown colored dinosaur looking monsters called Hydrogedon. Yuki’s side of the field consisted of three spellcaster monsters: Maha Vailo, Neo the Magic Swordsman, and Black Magician Girl. 

“My draw.” Bastion said drawing his next card. “And I summon Oxygedon in attack mode!”

“Not so fast Bastion, I have a trap!” Yuki said, revealing his face down card. “Dark Renewal!”

Bastion’s eyes widened in shock. “You had that card in your deck?”

“Yeah, and now since you normal summoned a monster, I can activate it.” Yuki explained. “By sacrificing Maha Vailo, and your Oxygedon, I can bring my Black Magician back from the graveyard!

Both Bastion’s and Yuki’s monsters vanished into a black coffin that had materialized from Yuki’s trap card, and from that same coffin emerged Yuki’s Black Magician. The artwork on the card was almost transparent, and the monster itself had faded teal armor, white hair, and pale skin.

“And because Maha Vailo had Black Pendant equipped to it, you lose 500 points Bastion.” Yuki discarded the equip card into the graveyard.

**Bastion-LP 2000**

Bastion smiled. “Well played indeed Yuki, now I believe it’s your move.”

“Right then, I draw, and I’ll play Black Burning Attack!” Yuki revealed the spell card to Bastion.

“But that…” Bastion said shocked that Yuki had drawn not only that card, but the card he needed to win.

“Destroys all monsters on my opponent’s field, provided I have a Black Magician Girl!” Yuki’s Black Magician Girl pointed her staff at both Hydrogedon’s and blasted them off the field with two orbs of black energy.

“Now go Black Magician! Black Magic Attack!” Yuki ordered his monster. Black Magician raised his staff, and shot a stream of black energy at Bastion, which struck him in the stomach.

**Bastion-LP 0000**

“Well done.” Bastion smiled, getting back to his feet. Black Magician’s attack had knocked him down to one knee. “For not dueling with that deck in years, you didn’t seem to have lost your edge with it.”

_ ‘He’s right partner.’ _ Neo’s spirit said to Yuki.  _ ‘You should use us more often, now that you remember how that deck of yours works.’ _

“Thanks Bastion. It felt good to duel with my spellcasters again. Especially after dueling five days in a row with my dragons.” Yuki shook the Ra’s hand, as Jaden and Cyrus approached the two.

“Sweet duel Yuki. I didn’t know you used spellcasters.” Jaden said, his perpetual smile on his face. 

“But what was up with that Black Magician?” Cyrus asked curiously. “It looked different than Yugi Muoto’s.”

“Take a look for yourself.” Yuki said, showing the three the ghost rare artwork of his Black Magician card. Jaden, Cyrus, and Bastion looked from the heavily rare card, to Yuki, and back again. “I take it you want an explenation? There’s really nothing to explain, I was just constructing my deck for Battle City, and I pulled this Black Magician card out of one of the packs.”

“If you made this deck for Battle City.” Bastion mused. “How is it you never made it to the finals?”

Yuki felt a jolt of anger shoot through his stomach. “Because my locator card was stolen from me by that cheating insect duelist, Weevil Underwood. And he didn’t even duel me for it.”

“That’s just wrong.” Jaden frowned. 

“Yeah.” Cyrus chimed in. “People like that give all duelists a bad name.”

“Tell me about it.” Yuki said, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. “So instead I gave my deck to my older brother Yuri.”

“Woah, hold on!” Jaden looked shocked at this new piece of information. “Your older brother is Yuri Hyoudou?”

“Yeah. How did you not make that connection?” Yuki laughed, as Bastion cleared his throat. “With the exception of Bastion, how did you not make that connection?”

“I guess I never put it together.” Jade laughed, rubbing the back of his head. 

“Well Yu isn’t the only one related to Yuri.” Yumei said from behind her twin, making his eyes go wide. Yuki whirled around, coming face to face with his sister.

“Yumei?” He asked, as Jaden and Cyrus peeked around their classmate. “When…? How…?”

Yumei laughed at how shocked her twin was. “To answer both questions: I got here … about an hour ago.”

Yumei proceeded to explain her first hour on the island, including every detail of her duel with Torimaki, in that he along with Raizou and Chazz had confused Yumei for her twin. And how she had defeated Torimaki in three turns. 

“Very impressive.” Bastion said, nodding in approval. “Oh, I am sorry. Where are my manners? Bastion Misawa.”

“Yumei Hyoudou.” She smiled and shook Bastion’s hand. “And you two are?”

“Oh right.” Yuki said, lightly nudging Jaden and Cyrus forward. “Yumei, this is Jaden Yuki and Cyrus Trusedale.”

“Nice to meet the both of you.” Yumei, said shaking their hands. “And Trusedale? Any relation to Zane Trusedale?”

“Y-yeah…” Cyrus said looking at his shoes, making everyone give the small boy some confused looks. But they had no time to ask what was bothering Cyrus, when someone called out Yuki’s name.

“Hey, Yuki!” Everyone looked up to see Kai and Dr. Crowler approaching the group. 

“Hey Kai, a-and what brings you here Dr. Crowler?” Yuki asked, feeling confused as it was no secret that the headmaster of Obelisk had no love for the Slifer students, despite whatever respect he seemed to have for Yuki.

“I wanted to tell you the good news in person.” Dr. Crowler said smiling. “Now, I just saw who I believed, and I may add correctly believed to be your sister dueling one of my Obelisks, and soundly defeating him.”

“Oh umm thank you…” Yumei looked to Yuki for some help.

“Dr. Crowler.” Yuki supplied.

“Dr. Crowler.” Yumei parroted. “But in reality he was looking for Yuki.”

“Yes, he said as much.” Crowler replied. “Now onto what I came here to say: You said you wouldn’t accept being placed into a higher dorm until after your sister arrived. Since she’s here now, you don’t have any excuse. On monday, you will have a promotion duel, and should you win, you will be immediately promoted to the Ra dorms.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Sweet Yuki.” Jaden smiled, shaking his shoulder lightly by means of congratulations after Crowler had left in a rather hurried fashion. “You’re getting a chance to head to Ra.”

“Yu?” Yumei asked, waving a hand in front of her twin who suddenly snapped back to attention.

“Y-yeah!” Yuki shook his head a few times. “Sorry, that just… it’s kinda sudden you know? I thought it would take longer for me, or anyone to get a promotion match and-”

“The shock of it hit you all at once.” Both Kai and Yumei finished, before giving one another curious looks. 

“Exactly.” Yuki said, before realizing something. “Oh right. Um, Kai this is my twin sister Yumei. Yumei, this is the guy I told you about; this is Kai.”

“Oh, you’re the one who’s been helping Yu with his problem with crowds.” Yumei shook Kai’s hand as they spoke.

“That’s me.” Kai smiled. “So Yumei, what kind of deck do you run?”

“Warriors, but we can duel later.” Yumei turned her attention back to her twin. “Right now, I have to help Yu prepare for his promotion match.” 

“I was just going to offer to help as well.” Kai said with a small laugh. “We need to upgrade your deck since everyone at the academy pretty much knows what monsters you play now. And they’ll have come up with ways to prevent you getting out your stronger monsters.”

“In just a week?” Yumei asked, sounding rather impressed. 

“You’d be surprised.” Yuki said, before motioning to Bastion. “I’m pretty sure Bastion here had come up with around ten ways to beat my deck after my practical exam.”

“Twelve actually.” Bastion chimed in, smiling in a rather satisfied way.

“And I’m suddenly very glad Kai had me duel other Obelisks.” Yuki’s comment made everyone laugh. “But Kai is right, I need to upgrade my deck.”

“Okay, then the card shop it is!” Jaden smiled, wrapping an arm around Yuki’s shoulders.

* * *

Yuki’s jaw went slack as he looked at the card he had pulled. It was a powerful spellcaster monster, that was related to his Black Magician cards, and one that he had never expected to even see, let alone pull out of a pack. 

“Woah…” Yumei was just as surprised as her twin with the monster he had pulled. “Not even Yuri has that card in his deck, and he-”

“Yumei.” Yuki cut his twin off, shaking his head which made Kai and Jaden look at the twin with intense curiosity. 

“Is there something we should know?” Kai asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s a long story.” Yumei began.

“Which we’ll tell.” Yuki finished. “But after the duel okay?”

“Alright, but we’ll hold you to that.” Jaden replied, that perpetual smile of his back on his face.

* * *

The rumor of Yuki’s promotion match spread through the academy like wildfire, so by the end of Saturday, everyone on the island knew about it. 

“Did you hear Kai’s little protege is up for a promotion match?” Alexis’ friend Mindy asked Fujin that evening, while the second year Obelisk was making modifications to her deck. 

Fujin smiled. “Good. If anyone in Slifer deserves to move up in rank, its Yu.”

Mindy raise an eyebrow. “Yu?”

Fujin’s eyes widened slightly, and her face tinted with color when she realized her mistake.

* * *

The Hyoudou twins, Jaden, and Kai had gone over strategies, constructed and reconstructed both of Yuki’s decks so that there was virtually no way Yuki could lose his promotion match on Monday.

“Okay, I still say you should use them Yu.” Yumei said, pushing three cards towards her brother. Yumei had taken residence in Yuki’s dorm room, as there was nobody else in his dorm but him. “Come on, you pulled them years ago, if there was any time to use any of them, now’s the time.”

“I still can’t believe you drew these cards.” Kai said, a tone of jealousy in his voice. He was sitting on Yuki’s bunk while Yuki and Yumei sat on the floor, and Jaden was sitting on one of the wheeled chairs in the dorm. “I never even found one, how did you pull all three from one pack.”

Yuki let out a huff of laughter. “Apparently, I’m naturally lucky. And in the way I write my name.” Jaden handed Yuki a pen and a piece of paper, before Yuki began writing. “The character for luck is in it. See?”

“Huh… would you look at that.” Kai mused, while a soft smile formed on his face as he examined the piece of paper Yuki handed him. “But your sister’s right, you should add at least one of those cards into either of your decks.”

“Alright, you two win.” Yuki said conceding to his friend and sister.

* * *

Monday afternoon came a little too quick for Yuki. Before the Slifer had noticed, classes for the day had ended, and everyone was rushing towards the main dueling arena like people would run to a card shop when a new set of rare cards was released.

“You ready for this Yu?” Yumei asked, placing a hand on her twin’s shoulder in a comforting manner. Yuki’s foot was rapidly tapping the floor. A small tick Yuki seemed to have whenever he was nervous. The two were the only ones left in the classroom, aside from Jaden who was asleep yet again.

“Yeah.” Yuki inhaled deeply, before getting to his feet. “I’m ready.”

Yumei smiled before remembering something. “Oh, I forgot. Yuri sent me this. He wanted me to give this to you, since the mailing system here is apparently really flimsy.”

Yumei reached into her bag, before handing Yuki a dark blue shirt. Yuki smiled, as he had a look of the custom shirt his elder brother had made for him. Instead of the signature SR on the front of the shirt, it had been replaced by a YH, with the words  _ ‘Burn It Down’ _ surrounding the initials. 

“Feel better now?” Yumei asked, as Yuki changed into the shirt, before pulling his Slifer Red jacket over it. Though he left the jacket open to show the logo on the shirt his elder brother had sent him. 

“Much better.” Yuki said, waking Jaden up. “Hey buddy, wake up. Time for the duel.”

“Nice shirt.” Jaden yawned, smiling at Yuki.

“Gift from my older brother.” Yuki replied, as the three walked out of the classroom, where both Kai and Fujin were waiting. 

“Nice shirt.” Fujin winked at Yuki, making his cheeks flush slightly. 

“You ready?” Kai asked, Yuki nodding a second later. The five of them walked together towards the arena, Kai’s arm wrapped over Yuki’s shoulder. “Just remember what I told you; just focus on your opponent not the duel.”

“You can do this Yuki.” Fujin said, giving his shoulder an encouraging squeeze, as Jaden ran to find a seat.

* * *

In the center of Duel Academy’s main arena, a large man with a bald head and a goatee stood next to Crowler and Torimaki. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a promotion duel for first year Slifer Red student Yuki Hyoudou. Should he win today, Yuki will move up from Slifer to Ra Yellow. Allow me to introduce to you his opponent: first year Obelisk Blue Taiyou Torimaki!”

It seemed everyone in Duel Academy was in attendance for this match. News of just how good a duelist Yuki was had quickly made its way around the academy, there was a lot of hype for this duel, even with two days notice. There was a smattering of applause for Torimaki, before Chancellor Sheppard spoke yet again. “Now please put your hands together for Yuki Hyoudou!”

Yumei smiled as the crowd cheered at the mention of her twin’s name. She had one more surprise in store for her twin. Something she talked with Chancellor Sheppard about. Seconds after the headmaster of the school announced Yuki’s name, came Yumei’s surprise. 

**_‘BURN IT DOWN!’_ **

Yuki’s eyes widened, looking to his sister who only winked as the music started. Yuki smiled after a moment, deciding to take his twins surprise in stride. The Slifer walked into the arena alongside Yumie, to both the music and tremendous applause. The two were flanked on either side by Kai and Fujin.

The cheering of the crowd intensified as Yuki reached the center platform in the middle of the arena. He shook hands with Chancellor Sheppard, as Crowler scowled. He may have been impressed with Yuki’s dueling skills, but he did not think that anyone in this academy should enter a duel like this to music. Especially a Slifer. 

“Shake hands you two.” Sheppard said, after the music had died down. Yumei, Kai, and Fujin had gone to find seats at this point. Yuki and Torimki grasped one another’s hands.

“Heard you dueled my sister a few days ago.” Yuki said, causing Torimaki to frown. “I guess you asked to be my opponent, because you wanted a shot at my dragons right?”

“Damn right.” Torimaki replied with a determined look in his eyes. “I’m gonna show you what a real dragon deck is like.”

“Well, you got the right twin this time.” Yuki said with a small huff of laughter. “But you got into Obelisk with your dragons right? You must be good.”

Torimaki blinked in surprise, before giving Yuki an almost unseen nod of approval. “I still have a score to settle with your sister.”

“Settle it after this duel.” Yuki said, activating his duel disk. “Ready?”

“Ready."

“Duel!”

**Yuki-LP 4000**

**Torimaki-LP 4000**

“Since it’s my promotion match, I’ll draw first.” Yuki drew.  _ ‘Okay Yuki, just remember what Kai told you: Focus on your opponent.’  _ “Alright, first I’ll summon Ruby Dragon in attack mode.” A dragon that looked like a red scaled version of Luster Dragon appeared on Yuki’s field.  **Atk-1900 Def-1600** . “Next, I play two cards face down, and play the spell Swords of Revealing Light. Now neither of us can attack for 3 turns.”

“A good opening move.” Bastion said, finding a seat next to Yumei. “I haven’t seen Yuki play that monster before.”

“It’s never been in his deck before.” Yumei explained. “We worked on both decks all weekend for this duel.”

“Not bad.” Torimaki admitted, drawing his sixth card. “But let’s see how you handle this. I’ll summon Spear Dragon in attack mode.” A wyvern-like monster with blue scales, and an elongated beak appeared on Torimaki’s field.  **Atk-1900 Def-0** “Then I’ll place a card face down and end my turn.”

“That card is probably Sakuretsu Armor.” Yumei mused, as she remembered her duel with Torimaki. “Yu is gonna need to watch out for that.”

“Yuki’ll be fine.” Jaden said from the seat above. “There’s no way he’s gonna lose this. Not with all the work we did.”

On the opposite side of the arena, Chazz who was seated next to Raizou was scowling at Yuki. “Crush this Slifer Slacker Torimaki.”

“Okay, guess it’s my move.” Yuki drew, and smiled. “I’ll play Pot of Greed, now I get to add another 2 cards to my hand. Then I’ll summon the Red Eyes Black Chick in defense mode.” A small version of the Red Eyes Black Dragon still inside its egg appeared on Yuki’s field.  **Atk-800 Def-500** . “And that’s it for my turn.”

_ ‘What is he thinking. Playing weak monsters like Ruby Dragon and Red Eyes Chick?’ _ Torimaki thought, as he drew his next card. “Alright, let’s see you deal with this! I’ll discard Thunder Dragon and add two more to my hand. Then I’ll fuse them with Pollymarization, and summon Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!” The large two headed orange scaled dragon appeared on Torimaki’s field, after a large bolt of lightning struck the platform the two were dueling on.  **Atk-2800 Def-2100** .

_ ‘Okay, well if what Yumei told me was correct, Torimaki’s face down card is Sakuretsu Armor. I’m gonna need to knock that out soon.’ _ Yuki thought as he drew his next card, and smirked at what he drew. “Okay, I’ll set one card face down, and tribute my Red Eyes Chick, to special summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!”

The crowd gasped in shock, as Yuki had never played that card before. And the fact that he had yet another rare and powerful monster like that in his deck, was a real shocker. The pitch black dragon roared at Torimaki, as it materialized on the field.  **Atk-2400 Def-2000** . 

“Oh this is heating up.” Alexis said, leaning forward slightly in her seat. “Only one more turn until the swords vanish.”

Both Jasmine and Mindy blinked in surprise. “What’s with you Lex?”

“Yeah.” Mindy piped up. “You’ve never been this interested in a duel before.”

“Okay, my draw.” Torimaki smirked evilly as he drew his next card. “And I’ll play the spell Mystical Space Typhoon, and destroy your swords.”

“Uh-oh…” Yuki winced as his swords were blown away.

“Now my Thunder Dragon attacks your Ruby Dragon!” Torimaki ordered, and his monster reared its duel heads back.

“Not so fast Torimaki, I have a trap! Negate attack, which ends your battle phase!”

Kai nodded, unable to help the smile on his face. “Good move Yuki.”

“Good move.” Torimaki conceded. “Your turn now.”

“Okay then, draw!” Yuki smiled yet again. “Right then, first I’ll play my face down card Dust Tornado! And I’ll destroy your face down card.”

Torimaki winced, as his face down Sakuretsu Armor was destroyed. “Good move.”

Chazz scowled. “What’s going on? Why is Torimaki complementing that Slifer Slacker?”

“But it was a good move Chazz.” Raiou said, which only caused Chazz to scowl all the more. 

“Then I’ll activate Emblem of a Legendary Warrior, allowing me to add Buster Blader to my hand. Finally I’ll activate my own Pollymarization, and fuse my Buster Blader with my Ruby Dragon! Now Rise: Buster Blader the Dragonslayer Swordsman!” The familiar monster rose in place where Ruby Dragon had been.  **Atk-2800 Def-2500** .

“But I’m not done there, as I’m sure you know my monster forces all my opponent’s dragons into defense mode, and has piercing damage.” Yuki said, as both of Torimaki’s dragons folded their wings. “And he gets stronger for every dragon monster my opponent has on his field.”

Buster Blader  **Atk-4800**

“This is good.” Fujin said, leaning forward in her seat. “With the right card, Yuki can win right now.”

“And finally I’ll activate the last card in my hand. The Claw of Hermos!”

Everyone in the arena was shocked, including Chancellor Sheppard and Dr. Crowler.

“What?”

“No way!”

“He has that card!?”

Yuki smirked, as he slid the card into his duel disk. “Now I’ll fuse Hermos with my Red Eyes, and create my Red Eyes Black Dragon Sword!” A long black sword that had the outline of Yuki’s Red Eyes appeared on the field.  **Atk-2400 Def-2000** . “And it gets better, because this monster becomes an equip spell, and I know the perfect monster to give it to. My Buster Blader!

The warrior monster took the blade, as its attack and defense boosted.  **Atk-7200 Def 4500** .

“Now go Buster Blader, destroy Spear Dragon! Infernal Fire Slash!” Yuki cried, as Buster Blader swung the Red Eyes Sword at the wyvern, and slashed it down the middle. The dragon exploded into a cloud of pixels, but Buster Blader wasn’t done there. It swung the blade yet again, this time an arc of fiery energy shot from the blade, and hit Torimaki in the center of the chest.

**Torimaki-LP 0000**

The crowd exploded into cheers, as  _ ‘Burn It Down’ _ played over the speakers. Yuki shook Torimaki’s hand yet again, before his sister, Kai, and Fujin approached him. “You’re good, come by … well come by the Ra dorm sometime. I’d be happy to take a look at your deck, and help you out if you’d like.”

“Maybe I’ll take you up on that … after I settle that score with your sister.” Torimaki said, walking off. 

“What did I tell you huh?” Kai laughed, being the first one to reach the platform. He wrapped an arm about Yuki’s shoulders, ruffling his hair. “I’m so proud of you!”

“You did great out there!” Fujin smiled, wrapping Yuki up in one of her rib cracking hugs. 

“Oh god… someone help…” Yuki wheezed.

* * *

“So about this story you promised.” Kai said nudging Yuki’s side. He along with Fujin, Yumei, Jaden, Cyrus, Chumley, and Alexis who was being accompanied by Jasmine and Mindy were all hanging out in Yuki’s new dorm room. Even Torimaki had decided to join, though more to take Yuki up on his offer.

“Right.” Yuki said, pulling out the monster card he had pulled out of the pack a few days ago: Palladium Oracle Mahad. Then taking out his ghost rare Black Magician. “These two cards are tied together, and tied to our family.”

Yuki took a deep breath before explaining. “Remember when Professor Banner explained about how the game of Duel Monsters originated in Egypt? Well the Black Magician used to be this card.” He pointed to Mahad. “He was one of Pharoah Atem’s priests, and the original holder of the Millenium Ring. You see Mahad gave up his life to become the Black Magician, so he could always be by Atem’s side.”

“Just like this monster’s effect.” Yumei interjected. “When Mahad is destroyed, you’re allowed to summon a Black Magician from your hand, deck, or graveyard.”

“So how does this all tie into your family?” Fujin asked, though she was leaning in like everyone else in Yuki’s dorm. 

“Our older brother Yuri.” Yuki explained. “See when Mahad died, he placed a part of his spirit inside the Millenium Ring, so that should whoever found it would be able to aid the Pharoah’s spirit find peace. The person who had possession of the Ring until all the Millenium Items were lost, was our older brother Yuri. Who was Mahad reincarnated.”


End file.
